In 1948, the Greek-Catholic Church of Romania [Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică] was dissolved by Nicolai Ceaușescu and its property handed over to the Orthodox Church by decree. After the fall of Ceaușescu in 1989, Legislative Decree No. 126/1990 was passed to provide that the legal status of property that had belonged to the Greek-Catholic Church would be determined by joint commissions made up of representatives of both the Greek-Catholic and Orthodox Churches, taking account of the “wishes of the adherents of the communities which own these properties”. The Decree provided that in the event of disagreement, a party with an interest in bringing proceedings could do so under the ordinary law.
In Lupeni Greek-Catholic Parish & Ors v Romania [2016] ECHR 1061, the applicants raised three complaints under Articles 6 §1, 13 (effective remedy) and 14 ECHR:
- that there had been a breach of their right of access to a court because the domestic courts had followed the criterion laid down by Legislative Decree no. 126/1990, applicable in the context of the non-contentious procedure – the wishes of the worshippers in the community in possession of the property – instead of applying the rules of ordinary law;
- that the application of Legislative Decree no. 126/199 had not been foreseeable and had rendered their access to a court illusory; and
- that the proceedings had been unduly protracted [64].